Christopher Elston Photography & Video Production

Christopher Elston Photography and Video Production
I am a portrait, event, corporate photographer and a video producer based in the Lehigh Valley, PA.
Frequently I work in New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey. And, of course, I travel the country, too.

One of my favorite parts of working with my wedding clients is the engagement photography session. Several months before the wedding, we go to a location and have a lot of fun. It gives me a chance to get to know my wedding clients and it give them a chance to get to know my personality, my photography style, and get relaxed about getting their pictures taken. By the time of the wedding day, the couple has already seen what images of them will look like and it makes them much more relaxed on their wedding day.
Usually the couple will purchase a Wedding Guest Book from me with several images from their engagement session.

Some photographers do a Project 365 where they take a photo a day and post them in a blog or someplace else. Some photographers have photo journals on sites such as Flickr.
I spend a lot of my time with my professional cameras taking a lot of pictures for clients, family and for my self.
When I need a quick snap shot of something, I use my crappy cell phone camera.
Here is a video of a collection of images I shot with my crappy cell phone camera from the middle of 2009 to the end.
It’s my goofy photo diary; I hope you enjoy it.
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Chris…I’m truly honored to be among the photos of your precious beauties…I gotta say, every time I see your family, I know you’re a very lucky guy. Sweethearts. Great shots. Even on a cell, LOL. I totally forgot about the day you sent me that pic!

She volunteered her time to take Social Media Portraits for the women that attended the luncheon.

Here is the my ad that was in the the fashion show’s program:

Here are the portraits from the day:
If you want to use any of these images on your social media site (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter), please click on the image for a larger resolution. Then right click and save your image to your computer.

Well it’s been almost a year since I have been attending the Lehigh Valley Tweet Ups. I wasn’t at the first one (I started attending at the second one), but I was at the one year anniversary party this month. It was held at the Allentown BrewWorks.

Face-to-face, tweeters are networking
Entrepreneurs take Twitter one step further for one-on-one contact

By Spencer Soper OF THE MORNING CALL

April 15, 2010

Insurance agent Donna Hosfeld uses Twitter to communicate with clients and find new ones. Lyle Richardson uses the social media tool to promote a delivery business he plans to open next month. And marketer Michael Drabenstott helps clients use it to build their brands.

All three mingled this week with other Lehigh Valley Twitter users at the Allentown Brew Works for the monthly ”LVTweetup,” where friendships forged online are strengthened through face-to-face contact.

Many attendees said they use Twitter for both business and personal reasons, which underscored the growing use of social media for commerce, not just chit-chat.

”It’s a powerful way to share information about a brand or category,” said Drabenstott, owner of the Bethlehem marketing firm Spark. ”It’s a way for our clients to form relationships with their customers, communicate back and forth and get customer feedback.”

Twitter allows users to send ”tweets,” which are similar to Facebook status updates or blog posts, except users are limited to 140 characters. Twitter.com had more than 21 million unique visitors in March, and its traffic has plateaued in the past year. Local users say it is a good way to market businesses, meet people and stay informed.

But tweeting alone doesn’t replace personal connections, which is why Forks Township resident Mike Andreano organized the first LVTweetup last year. The event was a success, and his social media training business Be The Bee has coordinated monthly Tweetups since that have become a tradition for local Twitter users.

Tuesday’s event, which drew about 50 people to the Brew Works, was the first birthday for the LVTweetup.

”It validates relationships,” Andreano said about meeting people in person. ”People want to put a face with a personality they’ve been following for months.”

He modeled the event after similar gatherings in other cities. The success shows that social media have taken root in the Lehigh Valley, he said.

”We are a metro area, like New York City and Philadelphia,” Andreano said. ”It’s putting us on the map with regard to social media.

At the event, people chatted over pints of beer and chicken fingers. They hugged and shook hands, often meeting for the first time people they have been communicating with in cyberspace.

”I feel like I know them,” said Donald Flad Jr., a Twitter user from Bethlehem after meeting an online friend for the first time. ”We’ve been conversing for months, so I just give them a big hug.”

Hosfeld, the insurance agent from Emmaus, has been tweeting for about a year. She compared Twitter to a print newsletter businesses have traditionally used to communicate with customers. Except the print newsletter might be done quarterly, require a lot of production work and cost to distribute, and become stale before it is circulated, she said.

With Twitter, the communication is quick, simple and allows for a dialogue with the customer instead of one-way communication from business to client, she said.

After the earthquake that killed hundreds of people in Chile in February, Hosfeld used social media to ask customers how they would prepare for a similar catastrophe.

”For me, the biggest thing isn’t always being on the hunt for new business, but retention,” she said. ”Social media lets us provide more value to our customers and retain them. It allows us to communicate with them in a way we never could before.”

Richardson, who is starting a delivery business, has been using Twitter for about a year. The Emmaus resident, who works as a security guard, said Twitter is an affordable marketing tool. He hopes to reach up to 10,000 potential clients through valuable word-of-mouth referrals through his followers and their followers since information on Twitter is easily shared.

”It’s great for a new business,” he said. ”It gets you exposed to a lot of new contacts and it doesn’t cost a lot. All you need is a phone or a computer.”

Just wanted to say “thank you!” for doing this. I know it’s hard work to get all your equipment set up and maybe it even takes away from your personal enjoyment at the TweetUps – but the shots are great!!

You certainly have a knack of getting photos of everyone and making them look their best.

Huzar An Emmaus freelance garden designer known for her personalized designs is the behind the scenes inspiration instrumental for the new A&E series “Fix This Yard.”

Although her work is featured only in one episode, Bridget Huzar was tapped as the “off-camera” designer and expert consultant for the pilot of “Fix This Yard,” which airs at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Huzar wrote the script and advised co-host Amy Devers on garden design as she and Alan Luxmore helped makeover a Bala Cynwyd garden using several Lehigh Valley landscape businesses that appear on camera.

Huzar originally went to producer Nancy Glass’ studios in Bala Cynwyd to audition for the host of the new show after seeing an open casting call. Although she wasn’t chosen as the host, Huzar was asked to design the pilot and come up with script. Devers, a former host for DIY was picked to host.

“She basically plays me,” says Huzar, who doesn’t appear on camera. “I met with the hosts to explain the design and was there, on-site to coach them on correct terminology and methods, so the show felt authentic.”

Huzar says she was asked to pick from two homes near Philadelphia for the pilot. She interviewed the homeowners, did site analysis and conceptual design for both. After choosing the house, she did a final design picking all the plants, hardscaping, pots and water features and gave estimates for the materials and the estimated time to complete the job.

“The home was a craftsman in disguise,” she says. “It was an incredible transformation. It went from completely overgrown to winning an award for being one of the best gardens in Bala Cynwyd.”

During the project, Huzar used material from C&K’s Unique Garden Center in Quakertown and Lehigh Valley Home and Garden Center in Allentown. She brought in Mike French of French Gardens in Center Valley to install the garden.

“They are known for incredible attention to detail and experience in high quality installations,” she says.

Huzar oversaw all installation and did the staging of the furniture and decor. She also designed and created artwork for a children’s garden.”

The pilot was picked up by A&E, and Huzar was asked to continue as design consultant but she would’ve had to go to Los Angeles, so she declined.

She says they producers told her if the show is picked up for a second season they will shoot episodes in the Philadelphia area.

“It was insane,” Huzar says. “It was really short time frame and no money, but it was such a great experience.”